The present invention relates to vehicle-mounted devices.
Various devices on a vehicle are designed to be aligned to the vehicle's drive axis (both pointing in the forward drive direction and the rearward drive direction) in order to effectively point them in the proper direction for optimum performance. Such devices can include, but are not limited to, cameras, radar sensors, lidar sensors, and headlights. These devices may include features, such as mirrors and adjustment fasteners, coupled with the device to facilitate alignment of the device to the vehicle's drive axis at the vehicle assembly plant.
Once the device has been aligned with the drive axis of the vehicle, the mirrors, adjustment fasteners, or other alignment features are not needed for normal operation of the device. It is therefore known to provide expensive radomes or protective covers that cover substantially the entire device except for the portion (if any) that emits signals or beams (e.g., radio or light). Alternatively, a portion of the vehicle's fascia, molding, or other structure can be specially designed to hide the device from view, thereby improving the overall aesthetics of the vehicle. Covering the device with known radomes, whole-sensor covers, or vehicle fascia requires customization of the covering feature for each vehicle application to work within the given space constraints of different vehicles.